How To Restore Old Photos

Sep 02, 2022

Photo from Unsplash

Originally Posted On: https://envisionvideoservices.com/how-to-restore-old-photos/

Studies show that people upload 1.8 billion digital images each day on average. While these digital images are easy to save and access, this is often not the case with old photographs. Luckily, there are many ways that you can digitize and restore old photos to keep them in pristine condition forever.

Do you want to learn more about how you can use digital restoration services to preserve memories? Keep reading this guide to learn how to restore photos.

What Is Photo Restoration?

Photo restoration is a process that allows you to make digital versions of old, printed images. Not only does it digitize the photos, but it also improves their quality and repairs damage to the photos to keep them in pristine condition.

Some tools used for digital restoration include high-quality scanners, Photoshop, and more.

By digitizing photos, you can preserve the details of these images and make them sharp and clear.

Why Do Old Photos Get Damaged?

There are many reasons why old photos can get damaged over time.

One of the most common causes of damage to photos is fading from sunlight. This is because photos are created with dies and chemicals that are bonded together. When these bonds are exposed to UV rays and sunlight, it will lead to bleaching and will fade these photos.

Even things in the air can cause photos to fade and deteriorate more quickly.

Poor handling is another common cause of damage to old photos. Whether you look at these pictures frequently or have a child handle them too roughly, you may have photos that are torn or cracked.

Steps to Restore Old Photos

When your prized photos are damaged, it can feel like part of your memory has been destroyed. Luckily, you can restore these old photos in a few simple steps to preserve your important memories.

Here are some of the most important things you can do to improve the quality of an old photograph.

Digitize the Image

The first thing you need to do to preserve your photo is to digitize the image. This will give your photo new life. Even if you are not able to improve the quality of the image, you will still have a copy of the images if they were to get damaged or lost in the future.

It is simple to digitize an image and add it to your computer. One way you could do this is by taking a picture of the original image. If you do this, make sure you use a high-resolution camera that will capture all of the details of your image.

You can also use a professional photo scanner to scan the image onto your computer. Make sure you save these images to your computer using a high-resolution file format.

Open Files in Photoshop

Next, you can open your photos in Photoshop. Photoshop is a great tool for image restoration, as it gives you complete control over the final image. You can edit the image to improve the lighting and color, you can use spot healing tools to reduce the appearance of cracks and other damage, and you can even crop out unnecessary parts of your image.

When you open the image in Photoshop, make sure the photo has a high enough resolution. This way, the photo will be crisp and clear when you are finished editing.

Before you start editing the image in Photoshop, you should create a new layer. This way, you will not be editing the original image. If you make mistakes or want to change the way the photo is edited, you can simply go back to the original layer.

Crop the Borders

You can also crop the borders of the image if they are ragged or torn. This way, your final image will look like it was always a digital image. Using the crop tool will allow you to select how much of the image you want to keep and how much you want to crop.

Adjust Brightness and Contrast

As photos age, they can begin to darken. For example, if you store your images in an area with high humidity, it could cause the image to start browning.

Many old images also are darker because of the ways that photos were processed in the past. You can use Photoshop to improve the brightness and contrast of your image. This way, you can increase the light in the image to see the details more clearly.

Make sure you don’t add too much brightness to an image, as this can wash out the photo. You can also improve the faded colors on an image by adjusting the hue and saturation in Photoshop.

Do Spot Healing

Lastly, you can use the spot healing tool on Photoshop to improve any damage to your image. This can help you remove scratches or cracks on the photos, get rid of dust, and even erase lines on your image.

This way, your photo will look like they were never damaged in the first place.

Hire a Photo Restoration Company

Because photo restoration is such an involved process, it is best to hire a photo restoration company to help with all of your digital restoration needs.

Professional restoration companies have more experience working with old, deteriorated photographs. This means that they will be able to provide you with the best results for your old photos and memories.

Whether you have photos, slides, or even negatives of images, working with a professional restoration service will allow you to access your old photos easily.

Need Help With Digital Restoration?

Digital restoration services are a great way to preserve important memories and improve the appearance of old photos. By following these steps, you can keep your photos in pristine condition and have easier access to these digital files.

If you want to restore old photos, working with a digital restoration company is the best way to do this! Envision Video Services provides video, film, photo, and audio transfer services.